iPod Touch 5th Generation 16 GB Teardown

Sneaky, sneaky Apple. Thought you could pull a fast one on us by releasing a new, stripped-down version of the current iPod Touch without your customary fanfare? Not on our watch: It’s teardown time.
Of course, this new iPod is less revolutionary and more iterative than most Apple releases. Aside from the lack of a 5-megapixel, rear-facing camera, there isn’t much that distinguishes the iPod Touch 5th Generation 16 GB from its (slightly older) forebear. So, for this teardown, we played a game of spot the differences. Here’s what we found: there’s a gap on the logic board where the camera cable used to connect, the microphone moved from the back of the iPod to the top, and the baffling post for “the loop” has been nixed.

Given the lack of major changes between permutations, the iPod Touch 5th Generation 16 GB received a 3 out of 10 on our repairability scale—the same as its higher capacity counterparts.

• The exclusion of two main components has earned the iPod Touch 5th Generation 16 GB a new model number from its 32 and 64 GB brothers: A1509.

• We used our trusty iOpener to loosen the adhesive securing the front panel to the rear case. We're getting used to this opening method, as it melts adhesive as fast as water melts a wicked witch, without risking screen warp.

• The first obvious internal difference between the Touches is the lack of a wrist strap post inside the rear case. The speaker, once curved to surround the post, remains unchanged.

• With the exception of the flash memory, it appears that the ICs on the 16 GB model's logic board are the same as those found on the 32 and 64 GB models: